The Siege:
Freedom Under Fire

What's the clear and present danger to America's democracy?
According to director Edward Zwick's The Siege, it's not
terrorism, but rather America's response to terrorism.

Part thriller, part
civil liberties textbook, The Siege opens with the capture
of an Arab terrorist, Sheik Ahmed Bin Talal. Seeking his release, Bin
Talal's U.S. based-followers trail him to New York. Soon passengers on
a New York bus is taken hostage and blown up, killing dozens.

The FBI assigns flinty,
take-charge agent Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) to find the terrorists.
While Hubbard pursues his quarry, the terrorists commit one atrocity after
another, turning New York into a war zone. This results in a declaration
of martial law and the internment of innocent Arab-Americans.

The scenes with Washington
and his FBI colleagues in the Bureau's New York divisional office are
the film's best, particularly those with Tony Shalhoub (Wings,
Big Night) as Lebanese-born agent Frank Haddad. Washington
barks orders one moment and flirts the next. The role doesn't give Washington
a lot to do, but he makes the most of what he has.

A CIA operative, Elise
Kraft (Annette Benning), with ties to the Arab community and Army General
William Devereaux (Bruce Willis) complicates the plot. Benning does a
good job conveying her tangled relations with the Arabs, and her scenes
with Washington sizzle.

As the Army general
who seeks to rule New York, Willis plays Devereaux as a cross between
Alexander Haig and Burt Lancaster in Seven Days in May,
only less. Willis can do so much more, but you'd never guess it from his
one-note performance here. This reviewer found herself wishing she could
see what Alec Baldwin could bring to the role.

The scenes revolving
around the bombings are taut and suspenseful, graphic but not gratuitous.
And the shots of the Army troops marching over the Brooklyn Bridge send
shivers down the spine.

Much has been made
of the criticism by some Arab groups of the Arab community's portrayal
in this movie. Most of the criticism is unjustified. Although the movie's
terrorists are Arabs, the movie also takes great pains to show Arabs are
not a homogeneous group. In fact, the actions of the terrorists run counter
to the beliefs, desires and interests of most of the Arabs depicted in
The Siege.

If any group should
take offense, it's the U.S. Army. Zwick portrays the military as an asylum
run by lunatics ready, willing and able to undermine our civil rights
at the least provocation. By contrast, the movie idolizes the FBI and
could easily serve as a Bureau recruiting film.

Zwick and Washington
worked well together in Glory and Courage Under Fire.
Although entertaining, The Siege doesn't play in the same
league, but this reviewer looks forward to their next collaboration.